It's a thrill akin to finding buried treasure -- that moment when you rip up the dusty carpets of your newly purchased home and discover that (bingo!) there are hardwood floors underneath. Wooden floors are one of the most enduringly popular home decor features. See full article.

Fifty years! Fifty: 5-0! That’s how long it’s been since the passage of the Voting Rights Act. It was meant to be the end of government-sponsored racism, but a 2013 Supreme Court ruling pretty much gutted it by allowing states to impose restrictions...

There’s a terrific scene near the end of Mike Leigh’s resplendent biopic “Mr. Turner.” In it, Leigh’s subject, celebrated British landscape painter J.M.W. Turner, sits for one of those newfangled daguerreotype photos.